Painting the Heavens: Art and Science in the Age of GalileoThe remarkable astronomical discoveries made by Galileo with the new telescope in 1609-10 led to his famous disputes with philosophers and religious authorities, most of whom found their doctrines threatened by his evidence for Copernicus's heliocentric universe. In this book, Eileen Reeves brings an art historical perspective to this story as she explores the impact of Galileo's heavenly observations on painters of the early seventeenth century. Many seventeenth-century painters turned to astronomical pastimes and to the depiction of new discoveries in their work, yet some of these findings imposed controversial changes in their use of religious iconography. For example, Galileo's discovery of the moon's rough topography and the reasons behind its "secondary light" meant rethinking the imagery surrounding the Virgin Mary's Immaculate Conception, which had long been represented in paintings by the appearance of a smooth, incandescent moon. By examining a group of paintings by early modern artists all interested in Galileo's evidence for a Copernican system, Reeves not only traces the influence of science on painting in terms of optics and content, but also reveals the painters in a conflict between artistic depiction and dogmatic representation. Reeves offers a close analysis of seven works by Lodovico Cigoli, Peter Paul Rubens, Francisco Pacheco, and Diego Velázquez. She places these artists at the center of the astronomical debate, showing that both before and after the invention of the telescope, the proper evaluation of phenomena such as moon spots and the aurora borealis was commonly considered the province of the painter. Because these scientific hypotheses were complicated by their connection to Catholic doctrine, Reeves examines how the relationship between science and art, and their mutual production of knowledge and authority, must themselves be seen in a broader context of theological and political struggle. |
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... eyes , and that he would never take it up again.2 While this painter's ineptitude with the telescope was unusually great , his interest in the instrument and what it might reveal about the earth and the heavens was far more commonplace ...
... eyes or feathers or scales or leaves or stones being on his palette . Indeed , it is necessary that none of the things imitated nor parts of them should actually be among the colors , if you want to be able to represent everything ; if ...
... eyes and lips . Therefore , one must assume the existence of several outer oceans separated by isthmuses and mainlands , which is absurd and false ; or , if the ocean is single , it is not plau- sible that its reflected image be thus ...
... eyes to examine the works of Nature itself , and the attempt to recog- nize in them truths already discovered by others and to investigate a few of the infinite number of those left undisclosed , are practices which will never make a ...
... eye , and nearly sightless in the other . For already in July 1637 a despairing Galileo had confided to his friend ... eyes would deteriorate still more over the course of the next year , but it is clear that when the young John Milton ...
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Painting the Heavens: Art and Science in the Age of Galileo Eileen Adair Reeves No preview available - 1997 |